Sin and Yeast—a Corrupt Correlation

I recently found myself thinking about the yeast used in bread and ultimately its parallel with sin in our lives. It is a key ingredient in many popular types of bread because it is essential to make them rise. Without yeast in bread of this kind, you would have a thick and rather tough lump…

Loving Our Self Over God Is Foolish

Stan just stood there, staring at the edge of the lake with a gaze of uncertainty, almost to the point of daydreaming. “Hey, Stan!” he heard his friend shout, “The bus is coming just up the road.” “Uh, yeah,” Stan replied, with some hesitancy. “I’ll be right there!” He reluctantly wandered back to the bus…

Jesus Christ: Our Superior Standard

Instruments for measurement are all based on a standard or benchmark that was developed and put in place long ago. Pick up an instrument of measurement sometime, such as a ruler, a scale, or maybe a protractor, and look at the units of measurement on it. Whether pounds, kilograms, centimeters, inches, feet, or degrees, the…

Finding Hope When Lost in the Darkness

Have you ever eagerly wandered off into a deep, dark forest, only to find yourself lost in the darkness? Or taken a late day walk down a path and had the light of the sun dissipate earlier than you had anticipated, leaving you to find your way in the dark? Maybe you have driven down…

Does Favoritism Fulfill God’s Plan?

Did you ever have that one person (or group of people) in your life who seemed to be treated better than everyone else, someone who often left you in teeth-gritting anger? It would seem like, no matter how hard you tried, you could never get the special recognition you felt you deserved—whether at work, at…

Our Best Ambitions Are as Useless as Wet Sand

Have you ever thought about the fact that our own ambitions we do for God are much like building fine castles with handfuls of wet sand? They ultimately prove to be futile, without any lasting merit. It doesn’t matter how much work we do on our own to try to make ourselves right before God….

Hidden Under the Wrong Shadow?

A shadow can mean different things to different people. They are beneficial to some, and ominous and oppressive to others. For example: A shadow of sickness moved across a country. A child lives under the shadow of his or her siblings, never able to achieve his own position of authority. A renowned scholar has become…

Like Exit Signs Jesus is the Way Out

Have you ever thought about the “EXIT” signs that many buildings have placed inside rooms over the doors that lead the way out of the building? On the ones very often seen, the word EXIT is in red letters, lit from behind. Studies have found that red is the color most recognizable in a smoky,…

Your Destiny Depends on 1 Item

Our ultimate destiny in life depends on only one thing. It is not determined according to how well we have served mankind or how productive we may have been. Nor is it determined by whom we know or how much we have owned. The one thing our destiny depends on is our relationship with Jesus…

From Sea to Table — He’ll Protect You

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1). When the winds are howling or the storm is raging, Jesus will always be our source of hope, peace, and protection—if we will let Him. When we let fear, despair, or worry into our lives, they will take over and peace…

An Assault on the Cross of Christ over a Plus Sign

A magazine I recently read had a humorous list with three strange requests on it that graphic designers have heard from their clients. One was a client who wanted his designer to use something besides the plus (+) sign, because he considered it too ‘religious’! While this is somewhat amusing, it also reflects the current…

If Sin & Surrender Are a Game — We Fail

Many people throughout the world have a game-playing mentality that they apply into real life, long after childhood ends. To them, Heaven becomes just a goal they are trying to win, and Jesus Christ becomes merely the means of obtaining their goal. Sin and surrender become forbidden terms. They feel that when they “get saved,”…